1874 ADDRESS AT BIRMINGHAM 127 



the weather is villanous and there is no getting any 

 exercise. I shall leave here by the twelve o'clock train 

 to-morrow. 



On August 2 he delivered an address on " Joseph 

 Priestley" (Coll. Ess. in. 1) at Birmingham, on the 

 occasion of the presentation of a statue of Priestley 

 to that town. The biography of this pioneer of 

 science and of political reform, who was persecuted 

 for opinions that have in less than a century become 

 commonplaces of orthodox thought, suggested a com- 

 parison between those times and this, and evoked 

 a sincere if not very enthusiastic tribute to one who 

 had laboured to better the world, not for the sake 

 of worldly honour, but for the sake of truth and 

 right. 



As the way to Birmingham lay through Oxford, 

 he was asked by Professor Eay Lankester, then a 

 Fellow of Exeter College, if he could not break his 

 journey there, and inspect the results of his investiga- 

 tions on Lymnseus. The answer was as follows : 



We go to Birmingham on Friday by the three o'clock 

 train, but there is no chance of stopping at Oxford either 

 going or coming, so that unless you bring a Lymnaeus or 

 two (under guise of periwinkles for refreshment) to the 

 carriage door I shall not be able to see them. 



The following letters refer both to this address 

 on Priestley, and to the third of the important 

 addresses of this year, that "On the Hypothesis 

 that Animals are Automata, and its History" (Coll. 

 Ess. i. 199, see also p. 131 below) The latter was 



